Hey Arnold! is a Nicktoon created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon, which ran from 1996 to 2004. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents in a large city. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends encounter, including urban legends.

The show spun off a theatrical film, Hey Arnold!: The Movie (which was actually originally produced as a 3-part episode), and an upcoming made-for-TV movie, Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie (which, ironically, was supposed to originally be a theatrical release).

Contents

History

Animator Craig Bartlett graduated from Anacortes High School and obtained a degree in communications from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. During high school and college, he studied painting and sculpture at the Museum Art School in Portland, and his first job after college was at Will Vinton Productions, a claymation house. Originally, Bartlett intended to become a painter "in the 19th-century sense", but he became interested in animation during a trip to Italy. In 1987, while working on Pee-wee's Playhouse, he created claymation cutaways about a character named Penny and her friend Arnold. Six years later, Bartlett was teamed up with five writers from Rugrats to develop animation projects for Nickelodeon. These meetings were generally difficult and the writers became frustrated; Bartlett recalled: "Our ideas were OK, but such a large and motley group couldn't get far at pitch meetings. Network execs got migraines just counting us coming in the door." As a last resort, Bartlett played the "Penny" tapes, intending to highlight the Penny character. However, the executives were more impressed by Arnold, despite him being a minor character.

Synopsis

The show stars fourth grader Arnold, a boy who lives with his paternal grandparents, Phil and Gertrude, proprietors of the Sunset Arms boarding house, in the fictional city of Hillwood. In each episode, Arnold often helps a schoolmate solve a personal problem, or encounters a predicament of his own. The show also frequently focuses on Arnold's classmate, Helga, who often treats Arnold cruelly and bullies him constantly. However, a recurring theme of the show is the fact that Helga only pretends to dislike Arnold to hide the fact that she has possessed a profound, Shakespearean-in-magnitude love for him for years.

Cast and Characters

Jamil Walker Smith as Gerald Martin Johanssen - Gerald is Arnold's best friend and is usually present when Arnold's latest escapade happens. Gerald is the occasional voice of reason when Arnold needs it and the storyteller for the schoolyard legends.

Francesca Smith as Helga G. Pataki - Helga is nine years old and in fourth grade. She is madly in love with Arnold because he was the first person to be nice to her and notice her when they were very little, but she struggles to keep her affections a secret.

Anndi McAfee as Phoebe Hyerdahl () - Phoebe is Helga's best friend and sidekick. She is very intelligent and is the most academic of the children; she always tries to be the first one with an answer and does not appreciate when someone does better than her in school.

Sam Gifaldi as Sid - Sid is often seen as Gerald's "lead-in" man; when Gerald is about to tell another urban legend, Sid introduces him, usually mentioning how the story has been passed "from kid generation to kid generation".

Dan Castellaneta as Grandpa Phil - Arnold's good-natured and cheery grandfather (and Miles's father), Phil runs the Sunset Arms boarding house. Arnold often looks to his grandfather for advice. In the movie, he is shown to play the drums.

Tress MacNeille as Grandma Gertrude - Arnold's fun-loving and eccentric grandmother. She is often seen performing various nonsensical tasks around the boarding house.

Maurice LaMarche as "Big Bob" Pataki - Helga's father and a main villain of the show. He suffers from workaholism as he spends most of his time either working or promoting his beeper business.